A left visual advantage for quantity processing in neonates
Koleen McCrink, Ludovica Veggiotti, Maria Dolores de Hevia
Abstract
Forty-eight newborn infants were tested in one of three multimodal stimulus conditions, in which auditory quantities were presented alongside visual object arrays in two test trials. These tests varied with respect to which side (either left or right) numerically matched the auditory number. The infants looked longer to the test trials in which the left side of the visual display exhibited a quantity that matched the presented auditory quantity. This study provides the first evidence for an untrained, innate bias for humans to preferentially process quantity information presented in the left field of vision.
Topics & Concepts
AudiologyStimulus (psychology)Visual fieldPsychologyMedicineCognitive psychologyNeuroscienceCognitive and developmental aspects of mathematical skillsTactile and Sensory InteractionsReading and Literacy Development